Miley Cyrus shrugs off bad reviews of new film with a morning jog

After being widely mauled for her first 'serious' acting role, who could blame Miley Cyrus for wanting to run away.

But spotted jogging down a Los Angeles street yesterday morning, it seemed the Hannah Montana star was simply getting some exercise.

The 17-year-old was seen looking casual in a baggy T-shirt, leggings and baseball cap as she went for a run to clear her head in the suburb of Toluca Lake.

Feel the burn: Miley Cyrus goes for an early morning job in the Los Angeles suburb of Toluca Lake yesterday

Her run came after critics panned her performance in romantic drama The Last Song, her first bid at serious acting as she tries to move away from her clean-cut Hannah Montana persona.

While Cyrus is yet to respond to her critics, it appears she may be aware of her limited acting ability by admitting she needs acting classes.

She said: 'I've not taken like acting lessons or anything but it doesn’t mean I
don’t need to, because I’m sure I do. Once I watch this film in the
theatre I'm probably going to go book an acting coach.'

In the movie, Cyrus plays troubled teenager Ronnie, who is unimpressed when she is sent away from her home in New York to spend the summer with her estranged father Steve (Greg Kinnear) in the small Georgia beach town of Tybee Island.

One critic even compares Cyrus's performance to Britney Spears' infamous 2002 movie Crossroads, which was similarly criticised after its release.

The Boston Globe's Wesley Morris is particularly scathing: 'A more convincing star could make this a degree more tolerable, although in Cyrus’s defence not much more. She’s cute whether she’s smiling, crying, or wearing a pretty lavender dress.

Shrugging off the criticism: Cyrus went for a run after film critics rounded on her performance in The Last Song

'It’d be nice to see her do some acting, but that doesn’t appear to be high on the movie’s list of priorities. Allegedly, this is the film in which Cyrus gets all, like, dramatic. If by "dramatic" one means pouty, sullen, and cute, then OK.'

The Miami Herald's Connie Ogle cites Cyrus's 'stiff, unconvincing' acting as the main reason not to see the film.

Variety's Rob Nelson also said Cyrus 'alas, hasn't yet learned not to act with her eyebrows and overbite'.

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The New York Times's A.O. Scott wrote: 'Acting, for the moment at least, seems almost entirely beyond her.

'In The Last Song she pouts, slouches, storms in and out of rooms and occasionally cracks a snaggle-toothed smile, but most of the time she seems to be mugging for the camera, play-acting rather than exploring the motives and feelings of her character.'

'Serious actress': Cyrus tries to move away from her clean-cut Hannah Montana TV persona alongside Liam Hemsworth in The Last Song

The Rolling Stone's Peter Travers said: 'The Last Song, with a screenplay by Sparks himself, is so bad it makes The Notebook look like Casablanca...

'The only tragedy you'll face is paying good money to this swill.'

The New York Post's critic Lou Lumenick writes: 'It's the worst of both worlds as Disney cash cow Miley Cyrus makes the most dubious "dramatic" debut of any singer since Britney Spears...

'Displaying approximately one and a half expressions, the teenage Cyrus pouts her way through a fire, a wedding and a funeral.'

The Post also says Cyrus has 'a total lack of on-screen chemistry' with love interest Liam Hemsworth, who she started dating while filming the movie last year.

The film is based on the latest book by best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, who was asked about the novel before he even wrote it.

The Notebook author Sparks was approached by film-makers after Miley said she wanted to repeat the movie success of singer-turned-actress Mandy Moore, whose performance in another Sparks adaptation A Walk To Remember landed her critical acclaim.

After finishing the screenplay, Sparks then converted the story into a novel, which was released last September.